"Absolutely the best way to see DC"

Thought the RMEC might enjoy this as a little motivation. I will keep searching for new things over the next two months. Can you feel the excitement? Great weather today. . . fall marathon season is just around the corner!

Ford's Colony Updates

Record Day: I wanted to share an update with the RMEC on the Ford's Colony Race. Yesterday was a record day, with 24 Ford's Colony registrations. In fact, we added of 75 runners in the last week. We are very excited about the popularity of the race, and are pleased to see we are attracting every thing from competitive runners to runners who are racing their first 5k.

Selling Out: At the time of the post, there are only 14 spots left in the 10k, and seven in the 5k. A few more spots are currently being held back for sponsor exemptions. These may be added for the general public if they are not claimed. If you plan to race, I would sign up now. It is very doubtful that we will have race day registration in the 5k and 10k.

Volunteers: Although we are well ahead of last year with registered runners, we are currently way behind in regards to volunteers. Last year we had an amazing group of volunteers. Even though the race course is pretty easy to follow, we still need people to help with all kinds of jobs like packet pickup, parking, setting up, water tables, finish line, etc. Please try to encourage friends and family to volunteer. Yes, we will need them to arrive early, but the overall event is short, and they will likely be heading home before 11:00 am.

Fun Run: You have seen that we added a new Family Fun Run to this years event. We heard feedback from last years participants that this was a gap, and we responded with a 1.5 mile un-timed event. We kept the entry fee at $10 for everyone, with no price increases. We really hope to see more families and children will sign up to participate. Despite tremendous growth in the main races, the Fun Run is below our expectations right now. As a reminder, for $10 runners get a race shirt, finishers award, and of course post race snacks too. Please come join the fun.

Medals: If you have not seen them already, we have posted a picture of this years award medals on the race website. Look under the "What's New" section for details.

Race Calendar

Our race calendar link list to the right has started to shrink as we move later in to the year. I like to try to keep this up to date with local races, and races that RMEC members are participating in. I can't put everything there obviously, but am looking for some suggestions to have added.

I just added the Disney Land Half Marathon (Patti, and Ursula), the Patriot's Triathlon (Kinnie, Mary, and Cliff?), Nation's Triathlon (Dave, Jeff) and the Magnificent Mile (Brian?). Please post comments with links to the race site if you have suggested races to add.

RUN RSVP: Saturday 08/29

Hard to believe but the next long run you do will be in September. . . and the MCM is in October!! Wow! It will be here before you know it. The long run schedule is odd this week. This is the only time in the training when the "novice" plan calls for a longer run. Those planing to run three 20+ mile runs should have a shorter recovery run this weekend, because you ran 18 last weekend. I expect however that many of you are not going to cut back to 12. . . use your best judgement.

We are back to 6:00 a.m. for the start time. The weather looks GREAT! It should be 68 at the start, and 76 by 9:00 am. That is tough to beat in August. Don't miss a chance to enjoy a cooler day.

I will put out fluids at my house, but I need someone else to do the train tracks and Co-Ah-Bar if possible. I will be at the kid's triathlon Saturday morning. Sorry to keep asking for help. . . been a busy summer!

Run Details:

• Where: Saturday, 6:O0 am @ Harris Teeter
• Supported: Yes - Tracks, My House, Co-Ah-Bar?
• Weather: Forecast
• Routes: 3 Miles; 12 Miles; 15 Miles

All three routes follow the same general roads, but not exactly. Print your directions, or you may go too long! The 3-Mile route has the direction under the 'Notes' link. The other two have the directions below the map. Please be sure to review the map very closely.

Please RSVP so we can prepare accordingly. Even if you are not a regular group runner, or a RMEC member. Please post a comment.

If anyone would like to run Sunday morning instead, please post a comment. That is likely my plan. Also, Steve and Arthur are racing this weekend at the Patrick Henry Half Marathon. Good luck guys!

Raleigh Running Outfitters Sale

Yesterday was the six year anniversary of Raleigh Running Outfitters. Thanks to their great staff and all of the loyal and supportive customers & friends, they are having a great big sale on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

• All shoes 20% off
• All summer apparel 50% off

If you have a chance to get by Raleigh this weekend, it sounds like a great chance to get some new gear. Be sure to tell them you are with the RMEC, and that we appreciate their sponsorship of our event.

Rocky Mount Endurance Kids - Back in Session!

Submittied By: Tracy Prcotor

RMEK volunteers are needed! The RMEC is getting ready to start up the fall session of Rocky Mount Endurance Kids and we need your help. This program was a big success in the spring with nearly 100 children participating in our "test" program over a 10 week period and nearly half competing in the Fun Run for Charities in May. There has been interest from parents and children concerning this program in the fall and I would love to offer it again. In the spring the program was offered twice a week once at the trail by the Y and once at Red Oak Park, I would like to offer this again if I can get a lead person to help. I will take the Thursday session at Red Oak again and would like to offer either a Monday or Tuesday date as well.

Tentatively speaking, a start date around mid September is ideal through mid November. In addition to a "leader" we will need several volunteers through out the program to come and run with the children. Each session is an hour long and you do not have to commit to every session. Let me know when you are available and/or how many sessions you can help with and I will get you on the schedule. There is no planning on your part! I will have the schedule done and get you the handout information. All you have to do is come out and do what we all enjoy doing and RUN EASY for an hour offering encouragement and advise.

Please let us know ASAP if you are willing to help and contact me for more details if you are interested in taking on the other weekly session. The volunteers were great in the past and all seemed to have really enjoyed it.

We would love to see the great response again from the RMEC, let's not let the children down!

Update on Cycling Crash

Below is information from Eric S. Many of you have heard that there was an accident this morning with the cycling group here in Rocky Mount. Tim, Eric, Richard, and Cliff were involved. Cliff had the most serious of the injuries and was taken to the ER. Eric provides several details below:

Cliff is home. He is very sore and has some stitches, but the CT and Xrays came back negative and thankfully everything seems good there. We are still trying to piece together exactly what happened, but we know there was a cable tv cable in or across the road that Richard hit with enough force that it snapped a mailbox post off at the ground.

I hit Richard and went over the bars and slid. My back quite sore (but I think it is only an impact/muscle soreness and nothing more severe or related to the operation from last year) and have a fair amount of road rash. It seems that when the mailbox sheared off, it spun into the road and Cliff it it head on. It sheared his front forks off in a straight line, almost like a saw cut them off, about 4 inches below the head tube.

All in all, we were very lucky. Richard managed to stay up and Tim managed to get around me and was not hit by the mailbox as it snapped into the road.

On a positive note, of the 12 or so cars that passed us while we were on the road, over half of them stopped to offer assistance, including one nice man who drove Tim back to get a car to get Cliff to the hospital. Ironically, one of the cars that did not stop... had a bicycle on a rack on the back. Still, it is nice that there are people who are willing to offer help. -- Eric